MG 08

The MG 08 (German: Maschinengewehr 08, lit. 'Machine gun 08') is a heavy machine gun (HMG) which served as the standard HMG of the Imperial German Army during World War I. It was an adaptation of Hiram Maxim's 1884 Maxim gun design, and was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 also saw service during World War II in the infantry divisions of the German Army, although by the end of the war it had mostly been relegated to second-rate "fortress" units. Designated after 1908, the year it was adopted by the Imperial German Army, the MG 08 was a development of the license-made MG 01, which was a slight development of the MG 99 The MG 08's rate of fire depends on the lock assembly used and averages 500 rounds per minute for the Schloss 08 and 600 rounds per minute for the Schloss 16. Additional telescopic sights were also developed and used in large quantities during World War I to enable the MG 08 to be used in long-range direct fire and indirect fire support roles.